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I loved this episode. I thought it was great how despite all the disclaimers Lexxy ended up winning. The toughest thing about it was jumping from camera-to-camera and not knowing how they were all actually doing...

I wouldn't have minded a fun throwaway episode about go karts if it wasn't absolutely painful trying to watch them drive. OK, maybe they've never been on go karts before, but have they ever driven a car? You know, gas, break, steering? Love everyone on the show, but it was almost hard to believe.

I have to agree with Tavis. I realize they are majestic and powerful and loads of people like them, but I'm not a fan of horses. Waaaaay too skitish. I could ride an elephant or a bear or a dinobot because I know they do not feel threatened at all. Walk up to a horse and fart? BOOOM hoof to the face and I'm eating out of a straw for 6 months....at best.

As a consumer (what I ain't talented!) I can see Letterafterz point. I think the real problem though is the time constraint. Some more inside the house stuff and a peak at what the artists are drawing throughout the day would be sweet, but I figure the editor has a hell of a job shaving seconds here and there. That and the artists might feel uncomfortable being filmed.

Anyway the show is still great, but once it has a following and if they do a second season I would double the length of the episodes. Granted 3 episodes are shot in one day so I don't think there is a lot of time to give the artists "me time" so they don't freak out or take a swing at the camera or completely shut down.

Agreed that it wasn't great, but I did enjoy the epic wipeouts. I think Graham/LRR/the other producers will get better at these with practice.

My concern after watching this is that Katie hurt her hand seriously enough to impact her drawing. I can imagine that a bruise on the hand would make it hard to hold a pen comfortably. It'd be a real shame if she went up for elimination within the next two days and then lost because she wasn't at her best.

Short list today:
1) I liked this episode simply because it was non-stressful. Even the other social challenges were a little stressful, but it just seemed like this was a relaxing time out for everyone.
2) Monica was friggin hilarious, she really is as wacky as she is in her comic.
3) For some reason, I suspected Lexxy was going to win in the beginning. Not because of any conspiracy, just a hunch I guess.
4) I really think Maki said "Fuck it, I'm not stressing about this" about 2 minutes in. Which he confirmed, more or less, later. With the spectre of the elimination chamber no longer hanging over him, I think he's gained some confidence in his ability to win the whole thing.
5) I think Amy would have trounced in this, not only due to her experience with go karting, but also due to the fact that she's a Connecticut driver. Those people are nuts. ;)

I didn't mind the episode, and I think some of the criticism is a product of the "three episodes a day" format. If this were a televised show (e.g. Survivor), we'd have two challenges and an elimination all packed into one hour-long time slot. Any given third of an hour-long episode might not be super exciting (e.g. the Go-Karting), but the whole package would likely still deliver.

Also due to this getting its own episode there was more repetition than there otherwise would have been. Had this been part of a larger episode, I could see this whole segment getting edited down to an 8 - 10 minute chunk.

Jeez enough with the mehs from the non petrol heads out there. Episode was awesome!!! needed some jokes/commentary over the race. Props to Erika for givin it a real go for someone who doesnt drive. Not getting in car with Abby or Katie tho!!!! :O Monica was like WWWwwwweeeeeee!!!! u go girl

Also Maki ....thumbs down... where as Tavis was 'I got this', dude where u even trying???!!! wheres your competitive spirit?
GoOOOoooo team Lexxy!
+should have all got them to pick Mario Kart characters!

I hate Abby so much I hate her art. I hate her big chin. I think she might not be neurologically typical. I want her to lose

White Knights, unite!

I think Abby is amazing. Her comic only makes me like her more and her art style is amazing. Her comic is easily the one I check the most often for updates out of all the contestants. Not sure who I want to win yet, but if you think about it Abby would be a great fit. She's the newest but her work is still great. If the goal is to be inserted into the Penny Arcade machine for a year to help launch your webcomic career, then she might need it the most.

I'm super curious as to whether they will be allowed to make any changes to their booths. I mean, even if no one had given you any feedback you might start to notice flaws once the customers arrived. I hope they are.

It seems weird that they avoid and don't want to go the elimination challenge. Ultimately- they're going for a job with "The Creators." Going to every elimination challenge means that they get more and more face time with the very people they want to score a job with. If you think you can earn the job- put your money where your mouth is and volunteer for elimination each week! ;)

Also, the show is really feeling the loss of Amy. I could only imagine that she would have been able to provide so much commentary on this episode. I feel like she would have purposefully thrown the qualifying laps to get a strong second or third place start position or something equally as devious.

The track configuration was one of these. They were on the South course, so either South Concourse or South Sprint; I'd guess South Concourse.

Also, for those of you trying to figure out production schedules, they drove out to Kent for this.

It's one big course, that can be split into north and south sections. They entered on the south, but were actually using the whole course. Abby's shortcut was from the inner turn to the straight out on the north portion. The water is right in the middle of the full course, and you can see how they were driving right at it.

Regarding the convention next episode, it's looking like it'll be another worst-case-scenario challenge like with A.J. and Twitter. So the idea here is going to be to identify who is least equipped to engage when they are given no choice but to engage with the person standing right in front of them. With A.J., you had the option of not answering a question. With Twitter, you had the option of not replying. Here, here's a person with money making an ass of themselves at your booth, what do you do now?

Predicted power rankings:

1: Maki. His price points from earlier might be hammered on here but I think he'll have that handled and he's already paid most of the price he's going to pay there anyway. He's smooth enough to handle whatever gets thrown at him.

2: Erika. I don't imagine she'll have any real issues; she can take Robert Khoo being totally inappropriate in stride. Though an X-factor might be whether they still have Amy's booth in the room or whether they took it down. The presence of Amy's booth and no Amy to go along with it might rattle her a bit. But it's nothing she can't shake off.

4: Katie. She's been to the Thunderdome for not giving AJ a good interview, but while 'forgettable' can hurt you there, I don't think it'll hurt you in a convention setting when they're already talking to you. It might get her a downgrade for not being a particularly memorable meeting, but it'll be enough, I think.

5: Abby. Any problems Abby will have I think will depend on her commission policy. Quoth her Tumblr:

Fair warning: If you ask me for porn I will troll you. By this I mean I will draw the most heinous, disgusting porn that my sick imagination can dream up. And I will take your money.

This is Penny Arcade. Sooner or later someone is going to ask her to draw genitalia. Her test is if she can keep herself from taking the bait. I think she'll manage to hold off, though if she doesn't, it is the Thunderdome for sure. I put her at 5 to leave some ambiguity over which way she goes. If she passes that test (or is never given it), put her up in a safe 4th. If she fails, instant last place.

6: Tavis. He went to the Thunderdome on Day 3 for failure to engage in the Twitter challenge and was regarded as boring by AJ; I think he might struggle when forced to engage and his lack of space on the desk can easily come back to bite him when he's asked for a sketch.

7: Monica. I think she's going to wilt on this one, despite having two conventions under her belt to most everyone else's one. In good conditions, she's extremely friendly and outgoing, but when stressed, she shows some fairly pronounced fracture points. And these aren't going to be good conditions. With A.J. she was on the back heel all day. After nominating Amy and Maki yesterday, she was too upset to join in the 'Artists! Artists! Artists!' chant-- she thought about it for a second but just couldn't do it. She had time to formulate polite responses in the Twitter challenge (except for the one no-reply), but she'll have to think on her feet here and I don't know that she'll be able to keep up with Khoovian shenanigans.

As for the resulting Thunderdome, which here would be Tavis vs. Monica, we've already seen what Tavis can do, but I would see him running up against a swirling pink buzzsaw. Because Monica has already, prior to the competition, voluntarily placed herself under far worse conditions than those of the Thunderdome. Twice. In 2012 alone. It's something she's taken to doing once every six months after graduating from college. On February 1, and again on October 22, she participated in something called Hourly Comic Day, in which one is to create one panel an hour for 24 hours, or at least every hour they're awake, summarizing their day. (She also did another one this February 3, but that was after filming.) You can see for yourself how she held up; I'd say she held up extremely well. So she knows exactly what kind of time management she's going to need to do, and is conditioned to make comics on the fly based on whatever the hell comes up at any given moment. She is more than prepared for a silly little Thunderdome. Tavis would put up a fight, but he might need some help from the wastebasket, and even then it may not be enough to stop her.

Gosling on April 2013

I have a new soccer blog The Minnow Tank. Reading it psychically kicks Sepp Blatter in the bean bag.

The presence of Amy's booth and no Amy to go along with it might rattle her a bit. But it's nothing she can't shake off.

this isn't the first comment I've seen that makes it sound like people think Erika & Amy are a/ in love and b/ totally codependent, it's just the most recent one. wtf? I get that they really like each other, but it's a bit much to suggest that Amy's absence is going to really upset Erika. They've known each other four days. Erika is, I believe, married. They'll see each other in a week. I think they'll cope.

When they're independently making confessionals saying they'd give each other the prize, it's at least worth considering as a factor that when one is eliminated, the other gets weakened. You saw Erika's face when Maki walked through the door.

I have a new soccer blog The Minnow Tank. Reading it psychically kicks Sepp Blatter in the bean bag.

Overhead shots of the course would have been great, but I doubt LRR had the budget for a crane and/or helicopter.

I don't think this episode is bad as others have suggested so much as that other episodes have been so tense/great that this one seems weaker in comparison. But I enjoy getting to spend some time with the contestants to get a feel for their personality. If it wasn't for these episodes, the other ones wouldn't hold the same tension.